A word from Jan Mcquay About mcquay Click & Clay
The best job in the world is one where you get to do something you really enjoy. I like working with clay and taking photos, and luckily many people like the things I’ve made well enough to purchase them. I started McQuay Click & Clay in March 2005, in Mindemoya, where I grew up. There's no McQuay Click & Clay store, but my products are available at many retail outlets, Manitoulin Farmers' Markets, the Kagawong Market and at Christmas sales. And of course I teach pottery at my studio at home.
People who knew me back in the 1970's know that I worked for Energy Probe in Toronto for many years. Energy Probe, an offshoot of Pollution Probe, took the role of energy watchdog, advocating energy conservation and renewable energy technologies. In those days I did some writing, including the book "Over a Barrel: A Guide to the Canadian Energy Crisis". Recently I have found the opportunity to write for the local newspaper, the award-winning Manitoulin Expositor, for an upcoming series on going green on Manitoulin. Once again I am glad of the experience I gained thirty years ago at Energy Probe.
For most of my working life I did administrative work at York University. In 2004 it was time for something completely different, but what?? I tried taking a course in pottery at Cambrian College in Sudbury, and working with clay turned out to be fun. So it stuck, and now I also enjoy showing others how satisfying pottery-making can be.
My interest in photography goes back to my childhood, when Dad, who was an amateur photographer, took photos with his 35 mm Pentax and developed them himself. I thought that was like magic, and begged for a 35 mm camera of my own, which my parents gave me for my 9th or 10th birthday. The camera didn’t have a light meter so Dad showed me how to set the exposure speed and lens aperture using a chart that came with each roll of film. One of the first photos I took was of my favourite doll propped up against a window dappled with raindrops and mist. Times have changed. Now I’m using a Sony 8-megapixel digital camera with a 7 times optical zoom lens. And it has a built-in light meter!
